As you can see from its growing popularity, social media is not a passing fad. It’s the real deal and can be a very powerful marketing tool – especially in healthcare.
As you can see from its growing popularity, social media is not a passing fad. It’s the real deal and can be a very powerful marketing tool – especially in healthcare.
Social media is a long-term bet, and you need time to really build out your efforts. Nevertheless, there are some quick ways for your current strategy to pay off sooner rather than later. Here are three suggestions:
If you’re a Twitter user, don’t just tweet using a hashtag and URL back to your site. Instead, take advantage of Twitter Cards.
Social media is visual, and Twitter Cards allow you to attach photos, videos and other media to your tweets, so they can be seen right on a user’s feed. All you have to do is add a few lines of HTML to your website, and when users tweet links to your content, there will be a card added to the tweet that their Twitter followers can see.
So the next time you tweet a healthy recipe or some other content to your followers, use a Photo Twitter Card. The attached photo will catch the reader’s attention and encourage him or her to click.
If your strategy includes a heavy presence on Facebook, don’t just spit out information on upcoming events such as wellness fairs and blood drives. Try asking questions. Doing so creates a call-to-action that will promote engagement (a big win in social media land).
Instead of telling users about your facility’s upcoming blood drive, ask your fans what makes them the most nervous about donating blood. This gives people a reason to engage, and you a chance to talk about donor safety techniques that may make prospects less nervous.
In turn, this new comfort level will hopefully lead to an increase in donors. At the end of the question, you can always add a link with more information on the event.
LinkedIn deserves a spot in every healthcare facility’s social media strategy. It’s a great piece of “real estate” to distribute company press releases and make other business announcements such as a new hire. Healthcare-related groups are also a great way to show your expertise on a specific subject and obtain referral patients.
Being an innovator – or even an early adopter of a unique social media strategy – will definitely get the attention of your prospects.